Kyoko Takahara Vickery

Beloved wife, mother, grandmother (Baba), great-grandmother, sister and friend

Our Mom, Kyoko Takahara Vickery, passed away on December 13, 2023 in Richmond VA at the age of 95. She was born on September 8, 1928 to the late Nisuke and Chiyo Takahara of Tokyo, Japan into a large family of nine siblings, two brothers and seven sisters.

Mom grew up in WWII era Japan, a time of many shortages and daily struggles. Her parents often needed to trade kimonos for rice and other food and to send the younger children out of the city for safety during the war years. She remembers as a high school student going up on the school roof, part of a fire brigade watching nightly for American bombers.

After the long war ended she met a young Army serviceman from Georgia, Alvin Lindbergh Vickery, sent with US Occupation forces to Japan. Mom said he always smelled of Juicy Fruit gum, so sweet. She remembered the fun of drinking Cokes and watching couples dance to big band music and do the jitterbug at the Diamond Horseshow Club for US servicemen and their guests. Her family welcomed this young GI who learned to speak Japanese into their home and into their lives. She and Dad eventually married and had the two of us, Julia Sumire and Jennifer, as their daughters.

As a military family we moved often. After living in Japan for several years, our family was transferred Stateside where Dad's family met Mom and the two of us girls for the first time. His family welcomed his Japanese wife and his children with open arms just as her family had welcomed him. We lived on various Army bases including Fort Lewis near Tacoma WA and Fort Belvoir near Washington, DC. Then followed three years at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii where we had the opportunity after many years to return to Japan and visit Mom's family again. Mom enjoyed living in Hawaii so much. With the large Japanese-American population there, she could once again eat the Japanese foods she remembered and had missed. She went bowling weekly with the other Japanese wives living on the base, and she began sewing our clothes, a skill she had learned after taking a pattern-making class while still in Japan. Our last transfer was back to the DC area where Dad retired from his long career in the Army. He and Mom had some time then as empty-nesters to travel, driving up and down the east coast, seeing the sights, just the two of them.

Dad passed away suddenly at the age of 50. An independent woman who lost her husband at such an early age, Mom was able to provide for herself by working at Hecht's/Macy's Department Store for 37 years. She was very fashionable throughout her life, almost always coordinating her outfit with a pretty scarf worn around her neck. Mom enjoyed the camaraderie of working alongside the many international women in the Women's Dresses department as they learned about each other's cultures and exchanged favorite recipes during their frequent pot-luck lunches. Mom was lucky, too, in having a wide circle of Japanese friends in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, most of them also WWII era wives of American servicemen, among the last of their generation.

As Mom aged she needed to be closer to family and moved to Richmond VA near her daughter Jenny and son-in-law Tim. She lived at Summerhill at Stony Point for 10 years, enjoying many new friends and being part of a knitting group there.

Mom always liked keeping her hands busy. She somehow found time over the years to make dolls, to draw and paint, do needlepoint, make jewelry, quilt, knit and crochet for charity and to sew dresses for us growing up that were nicer than any store-bought. Mom loved to travel, often with us and our families. She visited many of the States, enjoyed annual beach trips and traveled to England, France and Italy. She liked going to NYC for Broadway shows, especially the musicals she favored, and also returned to Japan several times over the years to reconnect with family there. Mom loved to laugh and have fun. She enjoyed giving small gifts, going out to lunch or to an art museum or to go shopping, and especially enjoyed time spent with family.

She was a loving mother and wonderful grandmother to our sons. To them, she was always Baba. Mom will be terribly missed by so many, all of us forever grateful for her long and happy life and for her presence in our own. Our hearts are broken.

Mom was predeceased by our Dad, Alvin Lindbergh Vickery, who passed away on July 10, 1978, both of her brothers Koichi and Hiromitsu and five of her sisters Mitsue, Yaeko, Kaeko, Junko and Yasuko, all of Japan.

She is survived by her daughter Julia Sumire (Otho) Cozart and grandson Matthew Gibson, all of Raleigh NC, daughter Jennifer Vickery (Tim) Fladmark of Richmond VA, grandson Elliott Vickery Sharp (Alli Katz) and great-grandchildren Penelope Keiko and Arthur Ren, all of Philadelphia PA, sister Sanae Aoyagi of Tokyo, Japan and numerous nieces and nephews along with their families, all of Japan.

We would like to thank both the many wonderful staff members at Bickford Assisted Living of Chesterfield who helped care for Mom during the past year and a half and also the residents there who took Mom in as one of their own.

In lieu of flowers we ask that Mom be remembered for her ready smile and wave. That is what she would wish. We thank everyone for the many expressions of sympathy we have already received.

Mom will be interred at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery alongside our Dad.